Cosplayer to Vigilante
by cowboysrappin
Summary: Liberty Davis is just a typical fangirl who loves superheroes. Despite the millions of comics, games, movies, and TV series in existence, CW's Arrow, based off of DC Comic's Green Arrow, is her favorite. A trip to Comic-Con gives her an unexpected surprise as she meets the Roy Harper. With Roy's help, Liberty will become someone else, something else. She'll go from zero to hero.
1. I

_Roy's POV_

Doctors, Harry Potters, and Sherlock Holmeses were everywhere as far as the eye could see. Roy gripped the sleeves of his signature red hoodie. He felt out of place in a convention. But he had to find this guy before it became a problem.

_Where could he be?_ Roy thought. _And who the heck is he?_

When he and Oliver first fought this guy, Oliver slipped a tracker on him before the guy got away. Felicity had tracked him to the con, and Team Arrow had gone to investigate.

Honestly, Roy would fit in better with his Arsenal suit.

Roy continued in a single direction. The Starling City Comi-con was very lively and full of nerds. Roy was surprised by how many people were there, considering the amount of destruction and terrorist attacks that have taken place since Oliver's return from Lian Yu.

_"Do you see anything, Roy?"_ Felicity asked over their coms.

"Nothing so far. How about Oliver and John?" Roy responded.

_"Only a bunch of Sherlocks,"_ Dig said.

_"I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking at,"_ Oliver said.

_"Those are cosplayers, Oliver,"_ Felicity explained.

_"But what are they cosplaying?"_ Oliver asked.

_"That's called anime, Oliver,"_ Felicity said._ "And the girl on your left is...Bella from Twilight?"_

_"Tommy once mentioned Twilight, but he never told me what it was,"_ Oliver said.

"You don't wanna know, Oliver," Roy said as he cringed.

_"Although I agree with Roy, I think we should get back to the job. We need to find this guy,"_ Dig said.

The team went silent and went back to searching. The tracker was showing the guy was in the con, but it was too difficult to find him in the mass of fangirls and fanboys. The cosplayers were slowly getting crazier and crazier. Roy's hair and hood suddenly blew across his face. He looked around. _Why's it windy indoors?_ Roy figured he was near the air conditioner and continued walking, pushing past Jedi.

Roy continued through a clump of superheroes like Spider-Man and Captain America. But those weren't what interested Roy.

Roy stared at a woman with tousled blonde hair. She wore black leather from head to toe. In the split second Roy could see her face, he saw a black mask.

Roy was looking at the Black Canary.

_What is Sara doing in Starling City? Wouldn't she tell us if she was here? And why is she here as the Black Canary? People don't know about her!_

Roy pushed his way to Sara. _Maybe the guy we're looking for is an enemy of the League?_ Roy was a few feet away from Sara, and when he was close enough, he shouted. "Black Canary!"

•••

_Liberty's POV_

Liberty turned around to find a man with dark hair and a red hoodie, a Roy Harper cosplayer. He had just shouted for her.

Liberty smiled at the Roy cosplayer. "Hi there!"

The Roy cosplayer looked confused but he shrugged it off. "Canary, what are you doing here?"

"Hanging out, y'know. I saw a couple other people. Oliver, Nyssa, but I haven't seen you yet." Not many Arrowverse cosplayers were there that day. The next day was when there would be an Arrow panel, so there'd be more or then.

"Nyssa's here?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, she's somewhere over there," Liberty answered as she pointed a ways away.

"What's the League doing here?" Roy asked.

"Not much, really."

"Wait, did you leave the League again?" he asked.

Liberty laughed. "No, I just need to be alone right now. But you can stay if you want, I guess."

The cosplayer looked confused, but he stayed. Liberty looked over to where his gaze was. "A Deathstroke!"

"_A_ Deathstroke?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, it's Slade! C'mon!" Liberty sighed as the -play in cosplay slowly fell to pieces. This was her first time cosplaying Sara Lance, so she wasn't very good at it yet. And it was exciting to meet an Arrow, a Roy, and a Slade! Liberty grabbed Roy's wrist and dragged him with her.

•••

_Roy's POV_

_Something is not right_, Roy thought. _She isn't acting like Sara, I still don't know why she's at a con, and she should not be excited to see Slade Wilson! Heck, Slade is supposed to be in ARGUS's prison on Lian Yu! The heck is going on?_

Roy looked at Sara closely. She looked like Sara, but certainly wasn't acting like Sara. Upon closer examination, she looked less and less like Sara. Her lips were drawn rather than pursed. She smiled wider than Roy had ever seen Sara smile. She looked closer to his and Thea's age than Sara's. Her eyes had more of a sparkle than Sara's ever had. Her hair was too straight, and her cheeks too red.

_What the heck? I swear Sara didn't look like this when I last saw her, when she left after the Siege._

Sara grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the crowd to Deathstroke. Now that Roy thought about it, something was...off about both Sara's and Slade's suits, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. But, Roy hadn't seen them for a while, so they could've had a wardrobe change.

Roy was more worried about why Slade was there and Sara's wellbeing. It wasn't right.

While he had a chance, Roy tapped his com in his ear, ready to tell the team about whatever this was. "Guys, I think we have a problem. Sara is here, she said Nyssa was somewhere, and Slade is here too!" he whispered into the com. All he got was static. Something was interfering with the signal. "Oliver! John! Felicity! Can anyone hear me?" More static.

Something was definitely off. Sara, Nyssa, Slade, the coms, these were signs of disaster, but Roy didn't know what. He wished he had pretended to be a cosplayer and showed up in his Arsenal suit, because it has better coms and he'd had his bow, arrows, and batons. And this might end in a fight.

•••

_Liberty's POV_

Liberty glanced at the Roy cosplayer. Something wasn't right. He was acting very suspicious of everything, even though it's just a con. Unless he was super good at cosplaying and he was acting like Roy, something was off. And even the best cosplayers meet their character's villains, so why was Roy trying to get away from Slade?

"Canary, I don't feel so good about this...," he said.

"There's nothing to worry about, uh, I never got your name."

"Roy Harper, the guy who fought Deathstroke with you during the Siege!" he said. "How come you needed to ask?"

Liberty giggled. "I know that, I wanna know your real name. I know you're cosplaying Roy."

•••

_Roy's POV_

"I know you're cosplaying Roy."

That line repeated in Roy's head. _Cosplaying? **Cosplaying?**_

_Wait, if she thinks I'm a cosplayer...then this can't be! Over there isn't Slade Wilson and Nyssa isn't here! And this person isn't Sara! That's why they all look off!_

Roy didn't know how to respond, so he did so bluntly. "I'm not cosplaying, and you aren't Sara Lance."

•••

_Liberty's POV_

"I'm not cosplaying, and you aren't Sara Lance."

Liberty needed some time to process. "I'm not cosplaying." _If he isn't cosplaying...what?_

_Shouldn't he know I'm not Sara? We're at a convention for goodness' sake!_

"Huh? I know I'm not Sara! I wish I was, but that's not happening anytime soon!" Liberty said.

"Well obviously you aren't her," he snapped. "I figured that out pretty easily. So who the heckin' are you?"

Liberty raised her hands in surrender. "Alright, we both know I'm not the Black Canary. I'm Liberty Davis, just a normal fangirl."

"How did you know who I am?" Roy asked.

Liberty laughed. "The amount of times I've binge-watched _Arrow_," she chuckled. "Roy Harper is my favorite character."

"Very funny, so I'm some cartoon character."

"No! _Arrow_ is live-action," Liberty corrected. "And you aren't literally Roy, you're a cosplayer."

"I am not cosplaying, Liberty. Never have, never will."

_Oh my gosh, is this guy okay? He is so adamant about being Roy. Is he okay? Is he, like, schizophrenic or something? He really thinks he is Roy, but he can't be. Just because he has the jawline of Colton Haynes doesn't mean he's a vigilante!_

"Look, I wish I could be anyone from Arrow. Well, maybe not Moira Queen or Amanda Waller because they kinda suck, but anyone else, I'm down for it," Liberty said. "But we can't be our heroes, however sad it is. I'm Liberty, not Sara Lance. You aren't Roy Harper, so who are you?"

•••

_Roy's POV_

Roy was fairly certain this girl, Liberty Davis, wasn't a threat to him specifically. He believed her when she said she was cosplaying Sara. But how on Earth could she know about all this? She claimed to watch a TV series called _Arrow_, but how could there possibly be a TV series about Team Arrow? If it existed, that would: a) be creepy b) be extremely hard to do since Oliver was really good at not letting word get out he was the Arrow and c) be all over the news if it existed. If it was big enough for people to cosplay, then how did people not know Oliver was the Arrow and that he, Dig, and Felicity worked with him? How did people not know about Ra's al Ghul, Sara, Nyssa, or the rest of the League of Assassins? How did people not know about Waller, Lyla, Deadshot, or the rest of the Suicide Squad and ARGUS? How did they not know Oliver lied about what really happened on Lian Yu? How weren't they _exposed_?

"Like I said, Liberty, I'm Roy Harper. How can you watch Arrow? How doesn't everyone know about Team Arrow and why haven't I been arrested yet?" Roy replied.

"Because none of it is real! Starling City doesn't even exist! It was based off of Seattle or something, it isn't really an American city!" Liberty responded in exasperation. "Seriously, are you okay? You should know you aren't Roy Harper! Seriously, looking around I can see, one, two, three other Roys! I know, it would be awesome if you were really Roy Harper, but you aren't! You can't be a fictional character!"

_Fictional character? Did she just call me a fictional character?_ "What do you mean fictional?"

Liberty through her hands in the air in frustration and scoffed. "I cannot believe we are having this conversation!" she snapped. She pulled out a smartphone, a semi-new model of the Galaxy Note, and opened up Google. "See, look at this!" She entered _arrow cw_ in the search engine. When Google finished loading, it showed some information about the show. Liberty handed the phone to him. "See, look!"

Roy looked at the phone. There was a poster advertising _Arrow_. There was a picture of Oliver on it. There was a brief description, which read, 'When presumed-dead billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns home to Starling City after five years stranded on a remote island in the Pacific, he hides the changes the experience had on him, while secretly seeking reconciliation with his ex, Laurel. By day he picks up where he left off, playing the carefree philanderer he used to be, but at night he dons the alter ego of Arrow and works to right the wrongs of his family and restore the city to its former glory. Complicating his mission is Laurel's father, Detective Quentin Lance, who is determined to put the vigilante behind bars.' As he continued to look at it, he mentally made note of how accurate it was. Down to what everyone's lines were.

"See! Google classified it as a _fictional TV series_! You aren't Roy Harper!" Liberty said.

Roy shook his head. "But I am. How am I going to convince you?"

"I dunno, why don't you go stop bank robbers in front of me!"

Roy shrugged. "Find me a crime."

_CRASH! _There were screams and people began running out of the building.

"This doesn't look good," Roy said. "Based off personal experience, I guess that there is some evil jerk here." Liberty nodded. Roy smirked. "I guess I don't need to find some bank robbers to prove to you I'm Roy Harper, the Arsenal."


	2. II

_Liberty's POV_

"Are you serious?" Liberty asked. "You wanna run into whatever _that_ is?"

Roy shrugged. "You told me that you need proof that I'm Arsenal!"

"Do you not know what sarcasm is?" Liberty responded.

Roy smirked before he ran off to the source of the convention's terror. Liberty threw her hands in the air in exasperation. _Why does he have to be like this?_ Liberty thought. _Running into danger like that, gosh, he's gonna get himself killed!_

Liberty slowly placed her hand over the bridge of her nose and shook her head. She followed after him, not wanting to run into danger, but also wanting to drag Roy out of the building and fifty miles away.

Roy had disappeared into the crowd. Liberty scanned her entire field of vision, but had lost Roy in the mass of fans.

"Roy?!" Liberty shouted, trying to find him and slap some sense in him. _He can't just run off, thinking that he can save the day! He'll get hurt!_ Liberty's head screamed at her. "Roy?!"

Liberty was being shoved toward the door by the wild stampede of screaming people, but she pushed through them. After a few minutes, Liberty was behind the group of fleeing fans, trying to regain her breath. "Roy?!"

A couple of stragglers ran past Liberty, running for the mass at the doors. She jogged forward, constantly scanning the con for Roy. As she got closer to the crashing sound, Liberty slowed to a silent walk. She resisted the urge to call Roy's name again, worried it would endanger both of them. She tiptoed through the empty room, looking for any signs of Roy.

As Liberty walked across the con, tension grew in her mind. It was much quieter, now that she was away from the human stampede. The crashing was still immensely loud, but was now the only thing Liberty could hear. She walked past the air conditioning unit and shivered from the cold.

The noise was coming from the upstairs section of the con, Liberty determined. She figured Roy too would have figured that out, and silently climbed the stairwell.

In a corner by a trash can in the stairwell, Liberty saw a backpack. Curious, Liberty crouched down by it and unzipped the bag. She gasped.

"Oh my gosh!" She pulled out the clothes in there to confirm what she thought it was. The final thing in it was a bright red hoodie.

_He really _is _the Roy Harper!_

Liberty's anxiety levels went down. _Roy Harper_ can handle himself in a fight. Ask a mirakuru soldier, he's good at this sort of stuff. Now that Liberty didn't have to worry about a dumbarse cosplayer, there was only one person left to worry about.

_Her_.

_Roy's POV_

Roy dodged as his opponent attacked him. He took a second to check if his coms were working.

"Team Arrow, ya guys there?"

_"Oh my gosh, Roy! What the heck happened?"_ Felicity shouted in his ear.

_Thank goodness, they're working again!_ Roy thought in delight.

"I dunno, the comms stopped working a while back. It got _weird_ real fast," Roy said as he kicked the attacker.

_"Are you fighting someone?"_ Dig asked.

"Yeah," Roy answered.

_"I'm fighting some people outside the building, Arsenal. I'll be with you soon,"_ Oliver said.

_"Just hacked into the security cams, Roy."_ Felicity said. _"On your left!"_

Roy turned to see another hostile had come to assist the first. He quickly dodged the attack and continued to fight the two hostiles. "I didn't realize there was more than _one_ villain!"

_"Neither did any of us, Arsenal,"_ Dig said.

Roy dodged a punch and clipped a wire to an attacker. He promptly sent his foot into that same attackers gut, sending him crashing through the window. Before he could reach the ground, Roy clipped the other end to the window sill, leaving his opponent dangling down the side of the building. He turned his full attention to the other attacker.

He shot a couple of arrows at the hostile, which were promptly knocked away by the hostile. His opponent ran the distance between them, and Roy dodged a few attacks before making his own. This attacker was a much better fighter than the other, and was possibly the leader of the villains.

_"Hey guys, I think we're gonna get some back up right now!"_ Felicity said.

_"Who's here?"_ Oliver asked.

_"Sara's really close to you, Roy,"_ Felicity explained.

_Oh no! Gosh darn it, she went after me!_ Roy thought. "Guys, this is gonna sound weird, but she's not Canary!"

_"What do you mean? She's not Canary?"_ Dig asked.

"It's complicated. I'll explain later, but she's not like us," Roy responded.

_"Well, she's like thirty feet away from you, Roy!"_ Felicity shouted.

Roy sighed and kicked his opponent in the face, making him massage his jaw before making his counterattack. "I'll keep the fight away from her, but we need to make sure she doesn't get hurt."

"Who're you talking to?" the hostile asked maliciously.

Roy smirked. "Your worst nightmare."

_Liberty's POV_

Liberty silently opened the door. There was a small creaking sound that accompanied the door, but the fight was too loud for anyone other than her to hear. At least, she hoped it was.

She peered inside the room to find Roy as the Arsenal and two men he was fighting. Soon, those two men became one as Roy kicked one of them out of the window, leaving him hanging on the outside of the building. The other man was much bigger and stronger than the guy hanging down the outside of the building, so Liberty worried Roy would have a hard time with this one.

She heard Roy talking, but she couldn't make out the words. Liberty figured he was speaking to Felicity, Oliver, or Dig. _Please don't get hurt, Roy, and please tell me you aren't explicitly saying Felicity, Oliver, and Dig's names!_ She figured he was okay, but she was still a little protective. After seeing what mirakuru had done to him...

Liberty turned away from the door and leaned her whole body against the wall, taking in deep breaths. _In and out, Liberty, in and out!_ She glanced back in the room where Roy was fighting. _Roy's going to be fine_, she thought, _now that I don't have to worry about him, I have me to worry about!_

Liberty tiptoed down the stairs, looking for the closest Roy-free exit. When Liberty got to the ground floor, she saw another man, dressed the same way as the men Roy had fought. _Based off of my knowledge of_ Arrow _villains, he's working with the guy Roy's fighting_, Liberty thought.

There were only two ways out: the door on the ground floor and the fire escape on the second floor. Both were blocked by hostiles. _I'm stuck here, in the stairwell!_

_Oliver's POV_

Oliver slammed his bow into the last attacker on his side of the building. The attacker fell limp and dropped to the ground. Oliver stepped over him, heading towards the door. "All clear here."

"I'm all clear too," Dig said.

"Arsenal?"

_"Working on it,"_ Roy said. Oliver could hear the fight happening through his comms.

The team had gone in expecting only one guy that they could find somewhat easily. Now, there were dozens of other hostiles. After the attackers had set off a small explosive in the building, everyone had evacuated, leaving only himself, Roy, Dig, and someone else who's apparently not Sara, as Roy had said. The team had all quickly prepared for a fight when they heard the bomb, and Oliver and Dig had ended up outside. They were on different sides of the building, the north and the east. These were the most vulnerable sides, so they had fought the hostiles there. The hostiles from the other side had come as back up, and they had quickly met their demise as well. Roy ended up inside on the second floor, which Team Arrow had figured out when suddenly they heard glass crash and someone had fallen out the side of the building and now dangled there.

Oliver was a little concerned for Roy. He had had no contact with his apprentice for some time, and it had worried the entire team. Felicity had been trying to find him with every means she had, and Dig and himself had searched for both him and the lead villain in the con. They had all expected the worst: that he had been defeated and captured by the hostile. That thought sent shivers down Oliver's spine. Roy had only been captured by anyone three times: once before the Undertaking because of his crimes, once by Sebastian Blood when he had mirakuru injected into him, and once by Slade Wilson when Slade needed a way to distribute mirakuru to make an army. All three times had been terrible on Roy, and Oliver didn't want anything like that to ever happen again. He himself knew very well what could happen.

_"John, Oliver, there's more hostiles in the building, ground floor,"_ Felicity said.

"We've got it covered. Any alarms that will go off if we go in?" Oliver responded.

_"Not anymore!"_ Felicity said, and Oliver knew a grin was plastered on her face.

_"Felicity, where's Sara-not-Sara?"_ Roy asked.

_"Hold up, let's see. Oliver! Get inside now!"_ Felicity said.

_"Wait, what's happening?"_ Roy asked.

_"Our friend, whoever she is, is stuck in the stairwell. One door leads to you and your opponent, the other to the rest of the hostiles. A bunch of hostiles are coming to you, Roy, and to get to you..."_

_"They have to get to her,"_ Dig said, finishing Felicity's thought.

_"And she doesn't know how to fight, Arrow,"_ Roy added.

"Dig, we're going in!" Oliver said, kicking the convention center's door open.

_Liberty's POV_

Liberty stood in the middle of the stairs, half of the way between Roy and the other hostiles. She was shaking with fear. _How was I so stupid? _she thought._ I should've left when everyone else did and not worry about Roy! I should've listened to him when he said he was the Roy Harper and let him do his job! I had no business following him, hoping to stop him!_

Liberty heard footsteps near the bottom of the stairs. She leapt up and ran as far away from the bottom as possible as quietly as possible. She heard them go up the stairs. She leaned herself against the wall in the corner, hoping against hope they'd walk past her.

She wasn't that lucky.

Three men had gone up the stairs, and three men looked directly at her. "Well, well, what do we have here?" the one closest to her asked.

"Looks like someone didn't make it outside!" the second one said in delight.

"Now, what should we do with you?" the third one asked.

"Please, I'm not worth your time!" Liberty begged, her voice trembling. She flinched when the first one stepped closer to her.

"Time? Oh, we have plenty of time to spare," the first one said.

"Maybe you can help us with a little vigilante problem," the second one said.

"Splendid idea," the third one said as he drew a knife and pointed it at Liberty's chest. Liberty stared at the knife with wide eyes, terrified. "Let's go. Scream, and it all ends here."

_Roy's POV_

Roy slammed his opponent's knife out of the hostile's hand. The knife fell out of view out the window.

"What's the situation with you guys?" he asked Oliver and Dig.

_"Huge mass of hostiles here, Arsenal,"_ Dig said.

_"We can't get up the stairs, Arsenal,"_ Oliver said.

Roy sighed and tried to defeat his opponent, but the hostile was too good. He needed Oliver or Dig as back up.

_"Guys, three hostiles just found—what's her name?"_ Felicity started.

"Liberty," Roy answered. "They found her?!"

_"Yes! And they're pointing a knife at her, Roy!"_ Felicity confirmed.

_"We won't be able to get to her, Arsenal!"_ Oliver shouted.

Roy turned to the door. He had an idea.


	3. III

_Liberty's POV_

The hostile flicked his knife in the direction he wanted Liberty to go and quickly brought it back to point at Liberty's vitals. "C'mon, let's go." He stepped back, giving room for Liberty to walk in front of him. Liberty slowly walked in front of him, shaking, worried she'd pass out. She felt the knife prick her spine. "Let's go, girl!"

She walked down the stairs, the hostile's knife digging into her back, not quite enough to draw blood. _Oh, how did I get myself in this mess!_ she thought.

"Hurry up! We don't have all day!" another hostile told her. Liberty quickened her pace slightly, starting to feel light-headed.

_CRASH!_

The knife left her back, and Liberty looked over her shoulder to see what had just happened. The door that once stood between the stairwell and the second floor now lay on top of the three unconscious hostiles. In the doorway stood Roy Harper, the Arsenal.

"Arrow, I've got Liberty. Can you handle the hostiles?" Roy said, probably in his comms. He must've gotten an answer from the Oliver Queen. He turned around suddenly and shot an arrow into the room he was just in. Liberty heard the faint cackle of electricity when a hostile yelped in pain.

"Liberty, over here," he said, motioning for her to come to him. Liberty quickly stepped over the door and unconscious hostiles and stood next to Roy. Roy led her to the broken window. "You don't happen to be scared of heights, do you?"

"N-no, I'm not," Liberty said. Her voice was still trembling.

Roy quickly knocked an arrow in his bow and shot it at a window in the closest building. Between the two windows, a zip line was placed. Roy stood up on the window sill and helped Liberty up. He wrapped an arm around Liberty's waist. Knowing what was happening, Liberty grabbed onto Roy tightly. Roy grabbed onto the zip line, and jumped off the window sill, bringing Liberty with him. They flew through the air for a few seconds until they landed inside the other building.

They were in an empty conference room. Liberty broke out of Roy's arm, and crouched down, resting her head in her hands.

"Do you need any back up, Arrow?" Roy asked his comms. After getting his answer, he nodded and crouched down next to Liberty.

"Sorry for not believing you," Liberty apologized.

Roy shrugged. "It _is_ pretty unbelievable."

"Sorry for the trouble I caused, running after you. I was worried because I didn't think a cosplayer could handle himself," Liberty added.

"That's a brave thing to do. Most people would have run." Roy stood up. "C'mon. Oliver, Dig, and Felicity got pretty confused when I said you aren't Sara."

_Liberty's POV_

"So, let me get this straight. We're characters in a TV show," Oliver said.

"Yeah, you are," Liberty confirmed.

"So this is like the multiverse theory?" Felicity asked. "You're from an alternative universe."

"Oh yeah, it's totally like the multiverse theory," Liberty clarified. She thought back to the many hours she spent binge watching _The Flash_, another part of the Arrowverse. The second and third seasons go into great detail about the expansive multiverse.

"What is the multiverse theory?" Dig asked.

"Oh, um, here, I learned it like this," Liberty muttered quietly as she grabbed a marker and wrote on some clear paper. "This is Earth-1, your world," she said as she drew a circle and labeled it E-1. She drew several more circles. "This is my world. This world, the Nazis won World War II. This world, the British defeated the colonists and America never broke off. This world, the Soviet Union never crumbled. This world, you, Oliver, you never went on the _Gambit_ and never became the Arrow. This world, you, Dig, you became an engineer. This world, you, Roy, you're still a mirakuru super soldier. This world, you, Felicity, you went into the NCIS. All of these worlds occupy the same space, but vibrate at different speeds. This means they can't interact with each other unless you go at high speeds or a hole is ripped into the space-time continuum."

"So how did you end up here?" Roy asked.

"Not just that, Roy. How did _you_ end up in my world, and then return back to Starling City?" Liberty added.

"And at the same time as a terrorist attack in the building you were in," Oliver said. "Felicity, can you hack into the SCPD CSI records and find out everything about the bomb?"

"Already on it," Felicity said, fingers flying across the keyboard. She pulled up a diagram on one of the screens. "It's a unique set up for an explosive, very unorthodox. Well, that's what the forensics say."

"Liberty, do you know how...breaches into other worlds can be made?" Oliver asked.

"Well, I'm not a scientist. I just watch sci-fi-fantasy a lot. Um, I'm gonna rule out magic and superpowers because that might not work now. Wait...what season is this? What's happening 'round now? Who's dead? What's happened already?"

"Uh, the Undertaking has happened, the Siege has happened. Malcom Merlyn is dead. Those are the major things," Dig said.

"What's happening in Central City?" Liberty asked.

"Oh, a few months ago STAR Labs started up their particle accelerator, only for it to blow up and hurt a lot of people. Our friend is in a coma right now because of it," Felicity added.

"Okay, that helps. Some technology can make and destroy breaches, but I don't know how. Like I said, I'm not a scientist," Liberty stated.

"What are you getting to, Oliver?" Roy asked.

"I think that the bomb might have opened a gateway between our worlds," Oliver said.

"It's possible. It's a very odd set up for an explosive. I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen a lot of blueprints for a lot of bombs," Felicity said.

"Can you figure out if Oliver's right?" Roy asked.

"I'm a computer scientist, not an explosive engineer," Felicity said. "I can only figure it out if I have an exact blueprint. This is what the SCPD CSI _thinks_ it looked like." Felicity sighed. "Out of everyone I know, only one person could maybe figure it out. But Barry's in a coma."

"Alright, the forensics expert is in a coma. Is there _anyone_ at Queens Consolidated or anywhere else that can figure it out?" Dig asked.

"Maybe, but we don't exactly have good relationships there anymore," Oliver said.

"I might know a place, but you guys might not like it," Liberty said. "They're in Central City."

_Oliver's POV_

Oliver, Felicity, Roy, Dig, and Liberty sat at a table at a coffee shop in Central City called Jitters. Liberty had said many characters came here often, so it must be good.

"Mmm! This is good!" Felicity said.

"Better than I expected!" Liberty said.

"So, Liberty, is it Mercury Labs that we're going to?" Dig asked.

"Nope. There's only one laboratory that can work this out. STAR Labs," Liberty said.

"No, please tell me you said 'Yes, Dig, we are going to Mercury Labs.'" Roy said.

"Liberty. STAR Labs blew up their machine in forty five minutes and _killed_ people. Barry—you know who Barry is, right? Okay, you do. Barry is in a _coma_ because of STAR Labs," Oliver said.

"Trust me, STAR Labs and Harrison Wells have definitely done some _stuff_, but Harrison Wells might be the best quantum physicist in both of our worlds," Liberty argued. She leaned forward and said in a hushed voice, "Trust me, they get important later on in the world of vigilante justice. And they make technology that can handle the multiverse. But that's in a few years, and you didn't hear that from me."

Roy sighed. "If you insist, Liberty."

"Trust me. Harrison Wells, Cisco Ramon, and Caitlin Snow are some of the best scientists in both of our worlds. Other than them, Ray Palmer, Ronnie Raymond, and Martin Stein. But Ronnie's dead, Stein is...missing, and I don't even know what's happening with Ray right now."

"They managed to stabilize Barry, which was supposed to be impossible," Felicity inputted.

Oliver sighed. "We get it. We'll go to STAR Labs. While we're there, we'll visit Barry too."

_Liberty's POV_

The group from Starling City walked into the cortex of STAR Labs. A man and a woman were working on the computers. They turned to face the newcomers. "Hey, Felicity! I didn't expect you, especially not you with others," the woman said.

"Hey, Caitlin! These are Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon. And these are Oliver Queen, Roy Harper, John Diggle, and Liberty Davis," Felicity introduced.

"_The_ Oliver Queen?" Cisco asked. "Oh man, this is awesome!"

"We came to visit Barry. When he went to Starling City, he became a friend of mine," Oliver said.

"Of course, he's just right over here," Caitlin said, leading them to Barry.

Barry Allen was unconscious on a hospital bed, IVs hooked to him. A machine showed his heart rate and breathing. His heart rate was swift and consistent.

"Isn't his heart rate a little fast?" Roy asked.

"A lot, actually," Caitlin said. "It's faster than the average coma patient's is. It actually is faster than the average heart rate for someone just taking a walk."

"Wouldn't that be a problem?" Dig asked.

"Not really, no. It's abnormal, but it's not causing any problems. Central City Medical tried to stabilize him, but they're technology is limited and when he flatlined the power would go out for some unexplained reason. We were able to stabilize him here though."

Throughout the entire exchange, Liberty smiled.

"Caitlin, some of us have a scientific question," Roy said.

"You do?" Cisco asked.

"Yeah, we have a, uh, hypothetical question," Felicity confirmed.

"You have a question, Miss Smoak?" said a voice behind them. They turned to see Doctor Harrison Wells approaching them on his wheelchair. "What field of science would this be?"

"Physics, Doctor," Liberty said. "Maybe quantum or astro."

"We have some new faces here. I'm Doctor Wells. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"These are Oliver Queen, John Diggle, Roy Harper, and Liberty Davis," said Felicity.

"My pleasure to meet you. Let's take a walk. You can ask me your question," Doctor Wells said.

Roy turned to Liberty and saw her body was tense. He raised an eyebrow at her, asking if she was okay. Liberty nodded.

_Oh gosh, this is so weird! I know that this isn't Harrison Wells. It's Eobard Thawne, otherwise known as the Reverse Flash! He killed Nora Allen and framed Henry Allen for it! He is from the future, and he let the particle accelerator explode on purpose! He is from centuries into the future, and he only came to Central City now to kill Barry! He killed the real Harrison Wells, and Tess Morgan! In a few months he'll kill Simon Stagg and a whole bunch more people! And the only reason he's keeping Barry alive now is because he wants to teach him to use the Speed Force, to go faster, fast enough to rip a hole in the space-time continuum and send Thawne back to his time! And, in the timeline we're in right now, he's going to kill Cisco! Thank goodness, Barry screws up the timeline to stop that!_

_But, how can I just play along with this? I know that Doctor Harrison Wells is an evil mastermind (that's hiding a telepathic gorilla somewhere right now). But I probably can't just tell Roy, Oliver, Dig, Felicity, Caitlin, or Cisco! If there is anything I've learned from the Legends of Tomorrow and the Flashpoint Paradox, I can't try to fix anything! Who knows what will happen if I do? If I say something about how Harrison Wells is evil, STAR Labs might shut down and Barry might die. Even though he is evil, Wells is the best person to teach him how to harness the Speed Force, being a speedster himself. Besides, it's not like Team Arrow would believe me. Barry's been trying to convince everyone it was the "Man in Yellow" that killed Nora Allen, not Henry, for years. No one can believe that a speedster killed Nora until they see a speedster, and Barry has to be that speedster. And, Wells is in a wheelchair. Which means I need to play along and pretend Eobard Thawne is really Doctor Harrison Wells, a paralyzed scientist that owns STAR Labs_.

Liberty smiled. "Sure thing, Doctor Wells."


	4. IV

_Liberty's POV_

Wells led them out of the cortex to discuss their "hypothetical" question. Liberty was stiff but desperately trying to not look like she's conflicted. _Gosh darn it, Wells is the only one with the futuristic knowledge we need, and I can't help but recall every evil thing he's done!_

"Are you well, Miss Davis?" Wells asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine, just kinda amazed that I'm in STAR Labs. I've always loved this facility."

Wells smiles (evilly). "Well, I'm not the most popular man in town. Not many people share your feelings about STAR Labs. The government has rated us as "hazardous." Funny, they actually started that report long before the most recent accident."

"What happened that made them see the future?" Roy asked suspiciously.

"We worked on a project with the US Army until I deemed it unethical. Since that day, the government has tried all they could to hinder us here."

"Could they have somehow sabotaged the particle accelerator?" Felicity asked.

"I doubt it. We had strong security, especially around the accelerator. But we aren't here to make conspiracy theories, are we?"

"No. We were visiting Barry anyway and on the way we found something interesting," Felicity said.

"The theory of the multiverse," Roy added.

"The multiverse theory! What questions do you have about it?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the general gist of the theory is that there are many universes all occupying the same space but vibrating at different frequencies. This stops the universes from colliding." Liberty tried to keep bitterness out of her voice.

"Correct, Miss Davis. That is, as you said it, the "general gist of the theory." And what about this theory do you have questions about?"

"There are theories that if one could go fast enough, they could break into another universe, right? I've also heard talk of theories that speed is not the only way. These theories said something about interdimensional energies that can rip holes in the spacetime continuum," Liberty said. "Do you think that's possible, as a physicist?"

Doctor Wells stopped and pondered Liberty's question. He slowly turned his head to look toward her. No, it _totally_ isn't creepy at all when he does that. _How on Earth does no one immediately find out he is evil?_ "It is possible, I think, Miss Davis, but incredibly complex. This is all theoretical physics. No one has ever discovered it. Given ten, twenty years, maybe we'll have a clue."

"What if it was found without anyone knowing?" Felicity asked abruptly. She was looking at her iPad in shock. "I was near the bombing at the fan convention in Starling City. The SCPD just released some information on the remains found. Some weird energy is radiating off of it that none of their scientists can identify."

"May I see?" Felicity hands the iPad to Doctor Wells. Roy and I look over his shoulder to see what's on the screen. Liberty skimmed over the police report. Some unknown energy was definitely present, definitely. Liberty could tell from the little time the Arrowverse spent dwelling on charts and graphs. "There is an odd energy here. I've never seen anything quite like it." Doctor Wells starts leading them back to the Cortex. "Let me do some math. I may be able to give you a concrete answer, Liberty."

"Thank you, Doctor," Liberty said as they reentered the Cortex. Caitlin was double checking the IV connected to Barry and Cisco was recalibrating the satellite system. Dig and Oliver are sitting by Barry, quietly discussing something. Felicity and Doctor Wells went to one of the computers and discussed the energy readings. Liberty slumped in a chair by Barry, sighing.

"You good?" Roy asked as he sat next to Liberty.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Liberty lied.

"You sure? Because you seemed pretty tense talking to Doctor Wells. And when has anyone actually been okay when they said they're fine?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I just, uh, know some stuff."

"About?"

"Can't say. It just feels weird to be here."

"Weird as in good weird or bad weird?"

"...A bit of both, to be honest."

"Should I be worried about STAR Labs in the future?"

"Not as far as I know, Roy." Liberty rapidly blinked her eyes. "It probably doesn't matter. I haven't slept at all."

"That's not good, and I say that fully aware of what my nightly activities are."

"Sleep is for the weak!" Liberty yawned. "Apparently I'm weak."

Roy grinned. "You need to sleep."

_Roy's POV_

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Liberty said before she yawned again.

"You're very obviously lying," Roy said, concerned for Liberty's wellbeing.

"I promise you I'll get some sleep when we leave. Deal?"

"Deal."

Liberty rubbed her eyes and looked at Barry. Roy hadn't ever met Barry, but Felicity had told him a lot about him. Apparently he had saved Oliver a little before Roy was injected with mirakuru. That gave Barry some immediate respect from Roy. Liberty glanced knowingly. _She knows something about Barry's future. Well, it's a comfort to know he has a future!_ "On a scale of one to ten, How important will Barry be?"

"Ten," Liberty said without hesitation after she yawned.

"Okay then, I'm glad he's alive." Liberty leaned against Roy's shoulder, closing her eyes and making a small noise of acknowledgement. Roy grinned. "What happened to you sleeping after we leave?"

"Oh, shut up!" Roy smirked as Liberty tried to resist the sweet call of sleep. Eventually she gave up. Before she did, she said, "This is gonna sound really weird, but you have a, I don't know, really non-bony shoulder. Which is really nice right now."

Roy laughed at her remark. "The most unusual compliment I've gotten, for sure!"

"Shut up! I wanna sleep!"

"It's your fault for not sleeping earlier, Liberty."

"I'm gonna blame you for no good reason."

"You do that." Liberty didn't respond, and Roy assumed she was asleep. He gently repositioned her slightly to put her in a more comfortable position, but otherwise left her there to sleep, leaning against his apparently non-bony shoulder.

"Did we lose her?" Doctor Wells asked.

"She's been pulling a couple all nighters lately," Roy explained, though he did not know if that was the case.

"Lucky for her, I typed up my thoughts on the subject and put them on this drive," Wells said, handing the USB to Felicity. "Even if we wake her up, I doubt she'll get much out of my voice at the moment."

"Make sure she gets a lot of sleep. All nighters are terrible on the brain," Caitlin advised.

"We will," John said as he stood up. Oliver joined him. Roy gently lifted Liberty up bridal style to keep her in a comfortable position.

"Thank you, Doctor Wells, for all you've done for Barry," Oliver said as he shook his hand.

"It's my pleasure, Mr Queen. I'm the cause of his condition, I'm the cause of several deaths." He glanced regretfully toward Caitlin. "I may as well help the one that displayed the worst non-fatal damage from the particle accelerator explosion."

"Very considerate," John said. Felicity gave Caitlin a quick hug before Team Arrow left for the van, Liberty still asleep.

_Liberty's POV_

Liberty woke up without an alarm. _Now, did I forget to set my clock or am I three hours early?_ She fluttered her eyes open to find herself far away from home. _So it wasn't a dream, dang it! _Liberty slowly sat up to find herself on a medical table. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, not ready to deal with life in general, regardless of vigilantes.

She stood up and walked to the main area of base. Only Felicity was there. "Felicity?" she asked uncertainly.

Felicity turned from her computer. "Oh, it's just you, Liberty. How was the nap?"

"Good. How long was I asleep?"

"Oh, a few hours, I'd say."

"Where's everyone else?"

"Kicking biatches' arses."

"Do ya know when they'll be back?"

"Probably in fifteen minutes, unless something else happens."

"Okay, cool," Liberty said as she observed the base. It was identical to what she had seen on _Arrow_, minus a few minute changes. But, this was between seasons, so she had never actually seen it then.

"I took the liberty to get us some sushi—that wasn't intended," Felicity said as she handed Liberty a box of take out. "I really hope you like sushi."

"Oh, I love sushi!" Liberty said as she dipped a California roll in some soy sauce. The two blondes sat together as they ate the sushi.

"So, I have a question," Felicity started.

"Shoot."

"Since you came here, you've gotten close to Roy. Any reason for that?"

"Are you asking if he's my fictional crush? No, I don't like him like that! He's just, I dunno, out of all the _Arrow_ characters, he's the one I relate to the most."

"Why is it called _Arrow_ and not _Team Arrow_ or something like that? Y'know, to include everyone."

"Well, Oliver started out alone, both on the island and as a vigilante. It took a few episodes for you or Dig to really get involved, so I guess Arrow was more appropriate."

"Touché. Any reason why Roy is the most relatable?"

"Oh, he has bullcrap parents, not a good record, few friends, unlucky love life, should I continue?"

"I get the picture. What did you do to get a bad record?"

"I was an idiot when I first turned eighteen and got caught drinking illegally."

"I've seen worse. And been worse," Oliver said as he walked in. "I honestly don't know when I first had alcohol, but it definitely wasn't twenty one. And you should've met my sister."

"Yep, I know you were quite the partier and Thea got into drugs at least when she was fifteen. When did you get here?"

"Just soon enough to hear you were an idiot once upon a time," Dig said. "Anything else we need to hear?"

"Nope, nothing at all," Liberty said. "Okay, so what did Doctor Wells say? I guess I couldn't stay awake, could I?"

"No, you couldn't," Roy confirmed. "He put it all on a hard drive for you. We haven't looked at it yet."

Felicity deftly inserted the jump drive into the computer and Team Arrow and Liberty skimmed through Doctor Wells's results.

"Goodness, you were right, Oliver. That bomb made an opening," Dig said.

"Didn't expect it to be this simple," Oliver admitted.

"Maybe simple answers are the best ones," Roy suggested.

"This is great. How on Earth am I supposed to get back?"

"You want to go back so soon?" Felicity asked.

"No, not really, but I'm hoping _someone_ will miss me."

"Your bullcrap parents?"

"Yep, but more likely my boss."

"You have bullcrap parents?" Roy asked.

"Yep."

"You happen to be standing next to three others with at least one bullcrap parent," Oliver said.

"I can try to figure out if we can recreate the bomb without," Felicity suggested helpfully.

"And hopefully not blow us all to kingdom come," Dig added.

Oliver took out his phone and glanced at the screen. "Laurel needs to talk to some of us."

"Great, you guys go," Roy said before he turned to Liberty. "If you're gonna be hanging out with us, I should probably teach you how to punch."

Liberty tilted her head. "Probably a good idea, Roy."

_Macy Davis's POV_

"Where the heck is Liberty, George?" Macy asked.

"You honestly expect me to know where that girl is?"

"Yes, I expect you to know where your daughter is!"

"She's no daughter of mine, Macy," George said, bitterness flowing through his voice.

"Well, she is _my_ daughter still, you unforgiving jerk," Macy said irritably. "She was at that Comic-con that had a bomb, you don't think she got hurt?"

"Knowing her, she probably did something stupid that got her hurt."

"She's your own flesh and blood, and you don't care whether she's hurt or not?"

"Sounds 'bout right."

"I can't believe you, George Davis," Macy said before she stormed out.


	5. V

_Liberty's POV_

"I imagine that this is less..._rigorous_ than Oliver's training sessions."

"Probably, though a lot of mine ended up being how to control my mirakuru soldier self." Roy laughed. "Be glad you don't have to deal with that! It was terrible!"

"I can imagine."

Roy had been training Liberty for the past hour or so while the rest went to see Laurel. Liberty was proud to say that she could now punch someone, which was better than before. "Hey, uh, thanks for, y'know, teaching me how to fight, Roy."

"It's nothing, Liberty. Nothing at all. Besides, there's already been three maniacs that have tried to kidnap you."

"And, thanks again for stopping those three maniacs."

"I am pretty sure stopping maniacs is in my job description. It's nothing, I promise." Roy lifted his arms, ready to attack. "Remember everything I taught you."

Liberty nodded, and raised her defenses. Roy came at her with his fists, and Liberty blocked his attacks. And she kept blocking, never making an attack, until she couldn't keep up with Roy anymore.

"I did better."

"Yes, you did. But you're going to have to use offense at some point, Liberty. You can't stick with defense forever," Roy said. "An NFL team that has a good defense but a bad offense can never win because they won't ever make any points. You'll never win a fight if you stick with defense because as you get tired, you'll open up places for the assailant to attack. You want to stop them before that can happen."

Liberty nodded. "I guess that makes sense, though I know nothing about football."

They tried again. This time, Liberty did use a couple of attacks. She mainly stuck with defensive moves, but she did attack Roy as well.

"That was much better. You need a balance between offense and defense. To go back to the NFL example, if a football team is equally good at defense and offense, they can both make touchdowns and stop the other team from making touchdowns. If you can do defense and offense, you can prevent your injuries and stop the attacker."

"So I am doing good?"

"Yep, you are," Roy said with a smile. "But we've been training for almost an hour and a half. That's a long time for you. Let's take a break."

The two sat down and drank some water. This had been the most physical activity Liberty had done in a long while, and it was exhausting. "We might wanna work on my endurance," Liberty suggested.

"Probably. So, are you planning on going back to your Earth? Felicity seems to think she can make a way for you."

Liberty shrugged. "I don't have much holding me there. I hate my job, my parents hate me, there isn't much of a reason to be there."

"I'd imagine your world is safer," Roy said. "I mean, there's still gotta be bad people, but I don't think you've had to deal with the Undertaking or the Siege."

"No, we have not," Liberty confirmed.

"Don't tell me if you don't want to, but what's the situation between you and your parents?"

Liberty sighed. "I've always been a disappointment to them. I guess Mom isn't that bad, but Dad has always hated me. I don't know why though. I don't see why I'm so easy to hate. I haven't done anything bad, I don't think."

"Some parents just suck, no matter what their kids are like. Don't dwell on it for too long. Anything else keeping you here?"

"My world is boring. Yeah, bad things happen, but it never affects me, so sometimes I feel so disconnected. I want to help people, but how am I supposed to help them if I have no idea who they are? Just, I have a chance to help people in your world, Roy, I don't think I have that chance on mine."

"In that case, I'd probably do the same," Roy said. "You probably know that I tried to help people way before I became Arsenal, right?" Liberty nodded. "I guess that maybe Oliver will let you help. I mean, you already know about us. That Oliver's the Arrow, I'm Arsenal, and John and Felicity are part of the team."

Liberty smiled. "That would be great."

"We'll just have to bring that up with Oliver."

_Oliver's POV_

Oliver, John, and Felicity went to Laurel's apartment, hoping everything was alright. They rang the doorbell and Laurel let them in.

"I have some information you guys probably will want," she said as she led them to the couch. "It's about the Comic-con bombing."

"What about it?" Oliver asked.

"The police arrested all of those involved except one."

"Who got out?" John asked.

"We don't know who he is. No one will say a word. All we know is that the one who escaped was the leader."

"So the real problem is still out there," Felicity said. "I can look into the files on those arrested, maybe there's previous connections to the leader."

"Do you know which one was the leader?" Oliver asked.

"Roy fought him. Not the one he kicked out a window, the other one."

"Roy said he only tased that one so he could get Liberty out," John mentioned. "Maybe he didn't knock the guy out."

"Who's Liberty?"

"She is a long story, Laurel, it's really weird, and I can't believe it happened," Felicity said. "We had to go to Central City to get scientific help on that playing field."

"Which is why I couldn't find you and had to wait until now to tell you about this guy apparently."

"We left on short notice," Oliver admitted.

"Well, who exactly is Liberty?"

_Roy's POV_

Roy helped Liberty back up. "You've done really well, Liberty, really well. You're a fast learner. Faster than I was."

Liberty smiled. "Really?"

"Really. Want another break?"

"Please."

The two sat back down like before, but this time, Liberty was using Roy's shoulder like a pillow again. "Oh no, you aren't going to fall asleep again, are you?"

"Maybe. I am tired."

"That would be my fault for training you for so long," Roy admitted. He lightly wrapped an arm around Liberty's tired form. "How have you been?"

"Tired with a side of good."

"You can fix the tired part, y'know."

"Are you encouraging me to fall asleep right now?"

"Am I?" The two laughed. "I'm pretty tired myself."

"You can fix that, y'know," Liberty replied, mimicking Roy.

"Yeah, but I should be up, just in case."

"In case some homicidal maniac attacks the city?"

"Yep, basically." Roy sighs. "You don't have to tell me if you can't, but I have a question about the future."

"Hm? I mean, I might be able to hint at something," Liberty said. "But if I've learned anything from time travel movies, it's that you can't know about the future."

"Does anyone I care about die?"

Liberty pauses. "I, um, I can't say. You and your friends will sacrifice a lot to keep this city safe, but things aren't always as they seem."

"O-okay," Roy stuttered. _I really don't want anyone to die. Oliver, Felicity, John, Sara, Laurel, heck, I don't even want Nyssa dead. But I should've known Liberty wouldn't tell me_. Roy smiled. "Well, I guess death is an occupational hazard. I shouldn't be surprised if someone dies someday."

"It'll be alright though. You guys can get through anything." She smiled. "I mean, y'all stopped a bunch of psychotic super soldiers from destroying the city. Not many people could do that."

"Also, does Thea ever forgive me? Y'know, for lying to her about the mirakuru, and working with the Arrow?"

"Eventually."

_Well, that makes me feel better about my future_.

"Thanks for the reassurance."

"No problem, my guy."

_Beep beep beep_.

Roy and Liberty turned to the computer. "911 calls," Liberty read aloud.

Roy pulled out his vibrating phone. "I need to go help Oliver."

"Go, help him. I'll be fine here."

_Oliver's POV_

"It's crazy, that you met someone from another universe, a universe where this is all on TV," Laurel said, shocked by what Team Arrow had told her.

"I know, it's crazy!" Felicity said. "But she's doing pretty well, considering the circumstances."

Oliver felt his phone buzz in his pocket. "It's Detective Lance," he said as he walked away from the group. "Detective?"

"Listen, twenty-five civilians were taken hostage just barely. We've surrounded the building. It's on 5th and 14th. Guess who is behind it?"

"Who?"

"The guy who escaped from the Comic-con bombing."


	6. VI

_Roy's POV_

"Do we know anything?" Roy asked his team.

_"Only that this is the same guy who led the Starling City Comic-con attack, the guy you fought before you saved Liberty. There are twenty five hostages, split evenly in five different locations,"_ Felicity said. _"And there are only three of you. And I'm assuming that if one place is attacked, this guy's gonna tell his men to kill the others."_

"So we need to find some way to handle the other two groups," Dig concluded.

"Felicity, do you know how the groups are communicating?" Oliver asked.

_"Uh, it looks like they're using glorified walkie talkies."_

Roy could see where Oliver was going with this. "Do any of them have access to video surveillance?"

_"No, but the leader might be somewhere else. He could be watching and ready to tell everyone to kill the hostages."_

"See who else is looking at the footage," Oliver said.

_"I'm already ahead of you. There is a computer on the top level that is accessing it, but no one is there right now. I'd imagine the leader is using that computer."_

"Where is he now?" Dig asked.

_"He's heading out of the building. This might be our only chance to save the hostages."_

"Have there been any ransom demands?" Roy asked.

_"None so far. And no clue why he bombed Comic-con. Are you gonna stay sitting there all day?"_

"Where are the hostages?" Oliver asked.

_"Twenty-second floor west side, Thirty-third floor north side, fortieth floor south side, forty-fifth floor east side, and fiftieth floor west side. Leader is currently on the tenth. Hurry!"_

"Roy, go to the twenty-second, Dig, the fortieth. I'll take the fiftieth, then drop down to the forty-fifth. You two go to the thirty-third together. If you run into the leader, split up. One of you rescue the hostages, the other delays the leader. Take the hostages to the roof."

Roy and Oliver shot ziplines to the windows they estimated were around the floor they needed to get to. Oliver shot another for Dig. They slide down the line, crashing into the windows and jumping in the building.

_Time to teach these guys a lesson_.

_Liberty's POV_

"This feels really cool," Liberty said, leaning in a chair, legs slung over the armrest.

"Being involved in a Team Arrow rescue?" Felicity asked.

"Well, I was already involved in one. Not having a knife pointed at me is nice this time around. Is there anything I can do?"

"Can you watch this guy? See what he's up to, tell me if something important happens?"

"Yes, definitely." She swung her legs onto the ground and rolled herself over to the computer Felicity pointed to. _Please save these people, Roy_.

_Oliver's POV_

Oliver ran to the nearest stairs to go down a floor onto the fiftieth floor. He was already on the west side of the building.

The building was previously owned by one of the men involved in the Undertaking. After Oliver's mother had given her book to the police, every person in it was investigated, other than those who were already dead. Those that were already arrested beforehand were reinvestigated and given more severe sentences. After over a year of arguing in court, Jacob Cording was no longer in possession of this skyscraper after it was deemed unsafe after finding evidence of secret rooms, enhanced weaponry in "unrepairable security systems," and several illegal construction choices, more so than just a small health department citation.

Oliver saw a mirror and ducked down before carefully approaching. _"The hostages are in that room with the 'mirror.' It's actually a one-sided window, so be careful, please."_

"Always am." He slid under the window and stood upright when he reached the door, kicking it off its hinges, bow drawn.

The five hostages were in the center of the room, kneeling in a circle facing away from each other. Their wrists were tied behind their backs, and the leftover rope from the knots were tied together, keeping the hostages stuck together. They each were blindfolded. All of them were bleeding in at least one spot, though their injuries seemed minor. Their ages ranged from a man in his late sixties and a woman in her early twenties. Since the building was supposed to be closed to the public, they were obviously kidnapped and brought on sight. Their clothing ranged from a Starbucks barista apron to a tuxedo, all of which torn and stained.

There were five hostiles, one per hostage. They were armed with 10mm pistols and knives. They wore ski masks and mismatching arrays of clothes.

The first one was impaled by an arrow in his shoulder, tearing a tendon needed to lift a gun. Oliver ran to another hostile, kicking the impaled hostile in the head, knocking him out. Three attacked him with their knives. Their skill wasn't exemplary, and they crumpled to the floor after a few hits.

When the last body hit the floor, Oliver drew his bow before he heard a click. "Put the bow down, or I blow his brain to bits." Oliver turned to see the final criminal holding a gun to the head of a man in tattered scrubs. He held his bow taut, aiming at the hostile's chest. "Drop it!" Oliver slowly lowered his bow, but continued to aim. The hostile relaxed his hold on the pistol. Just what Oliver was waiting for. He quickly brought his bow back up and fired at the perpetrator's chest. The hostile fell to the floor as the taser arrow did its work.

Oliver ran to the hostages and cut them free and helped remove the blindfolds. "Use the stairs, run to the roof, stick together. Go!" Oliver led them to the stairs. While they scrambled up, he sprinted down. He wasn't finished yet.

"I'm headed down," he informed Felicity.

_"Right, then left, and they'll be right in front of you,"_ she directed.

Oliver ran according to her instructions. He slammed the door down to find the hostages in a similar situation to the other ones, and five more hostiles, though only one of them had a gun.

Oliver tased the pistol wielder first. He stormed at the closest hostile, knocking him to the ground before shooting an arrow at another's Achilles tendon. When the one on the ground tried to stand, Oliver punched him on the neck. He drew his bow back and shot a taser arrow at one hostile while running to fight another. The fight was short, and soon everyone was unconscious. He untied and took the blindfolds off of the hostages, and told them the same directions he told the others.

"All my hostages are freed. How are the others?"

_Dig's POV_

"What can you tell me about what's in there?" Dig asked Felicity as he approached the room with the hostages.

_"Five hostages tied together in a circle and blindfolded, one hostile each, each of them with pistols."_

Dig sighed. Who the heck are these people? "I'm going in."

He abruptly opened the door and shot the first two hostiles. He was only equipped with tranquilizers, whereas his opponents had bullets. Two of the remaining three started firing at him, but their aim was shoddy, and Dig had shot them soon enough. The final hostile was about to aim at the hostages, but Dig ran to him and knocked his gun aside before slamming his own pistol into the hostile's head.

He knelt down beside the hostages and untied the knots and removed the blindfolds. "Go onto the roof, hurry, fast!"

Dig leapt down the stairs to the thirty third floor, ready to meet up with Roy. Once he saw what was ahead of him, Dig swore.

_Roy's POV_

_When did I get so good at guessing what floor the window is at?_ He had crashed through the window and onto one of the men guarding the hostages, knocking him out. _One down, four to go_.

Roy slammed his bow into the closest hostile's gut before hitting him in the head. The farthest one narrowly missed him with a knife he threw, and Roy shot him with a taser arrow. One came at him with a knife, but Roy shot him before he could get close.

The final hostile was about to put a knife to one of the hostage's, a forty-something woman in a business suit, throat, but Roy shot his hand before he could, making the hostile drop the knife. While the hostile struggled to register what had happened, Roy casually approached and hit him on the side of his head with his bow.

"It's alright, I'm getting you out of here," he told the hostages as he cut the ropes and blindfolds off. "C'mon, onto the roof." He led them to the stairs. When they got to the thirty third floor, he ran out the stairwell door and swore when he saw who was on the other side.

_Liberty's POV_

"Felicity, he just got on an elevator!" Liberty shouted worriedly.

"Oh heck," Felicity mumbled under her breath. "Leader's on an elevator. I'm trying to figure out what floor he's going to."

"He's going up! Do you know what floor he's going to?"

"Darn it! And Roy's already there."

"Where?"

"Roy, leader's coming to you. I'm telling Dig right now."

_Roy's POV_

"I see him," he told Felicity. "Spartan, get the hostages out."

He fired several arrows at his opponent, but the hostile drew a sword and used it to deflect the arrows like a darn lightsaber. "I wasn't finished with you at the convention," he shouted.

"What the heck do you want?"

"Nothing more than revenge."

_This is off to a great start_. "Then stop dragging civilians into your vengeance game. It's only you, me, and my team."

"Oh, was I not clear? I don't care about Arrow and Arsenal. All I want is you dead."

"Try me." Roy fires another arrow for the sake of distraction. While the revenge obsessed combatant deflected the arrow, Roy ran to him to fight. _I just need to give Oliver and Dig time to save the hostages_.

The two entered into a series of punches and kicks and attempts to slam their weapons into each other. Roy heard a door open and close and hoped it was Dig coming to save the hostages, maybe with Oliver following. He couldn't look to see if he was right, not with someone actively trying to kill him.

The leader was more skilled than the others, but he wasn't like Deathstroke or anything like that. In many ways, Roy had the upper hand. He was taller and could use his height to his advantage. He was quicker, quick enough to avoid the blade the leader wielded. And he was much, much more skilled. His opponent, on the other hand, was enraged. That could both be an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on if his opponent could control it or not. Roy knew that from his experience of mirakuru. His opponent also had lots of men, so he somehow was convincing them to join, whether with promises of money, power, revenge, or anything else. He also must have material resources if he could get access to explosives and weaponry. And he had to have a plan or many plans, which is what made him so dangerous. He had a plan Team Arrow knew nothing about, so he could always be one step ahead.

_"Final groups of hostages are going upstairs, and SCPD choppers are coming to pick them up, Arsenal."_ Oliver said over the comms. _"I'm coming to help you."_

"The hostages are coming to safety," Roy told his opponent. "And soon you'll be one to three."

"Didn't work out for me, did it?" He pushed a button on his wrist. "You have two minutes to get everyone out of the building. Don't take too long."

_Darn it!_ In his moment of distraction, his opponent kicked him hard against the wall before making a run for it. Swearing, Roy booked it to the top level.

_"Lots and lots of explosives have been activated throughout the building. They'll blow in one minute, fifty seconds. This building's going sky high,"_ Felicity informed the team.

"It's the leader's escape plan. I got the upper hand in our fight, all the hostages were being freed, and he activated the bombs," Roy explained. "Is SCPD here?"

_"The hostages are getting onto the choppers now. I just told them about the bombs, so they're hurrying. We need to get out of the building," _Oliver said.

Roy went out of the stairwell to find the nearest window. He kicked it open before shooting a zipline out to another building. He jumped out as Oliver and Dig did from other floors. As they landed on the roof of the next building, the explosives went off.


End file.
